Cumbie switches from coach to QB

SAN ANGELO STAMPEDE EXPRESS

At a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Cumbie announced that he had submitted his resignation just four games into the Stampede's United Football League season.

In his final official act as head coach of the Stampede, Cumbie and General Manager Bridget Jones put the ink to Cumbie's new contract - as the team's quarterback.

"About a month ago, I received a call from a school here in Texas about a coaching opportunity that would open up in the fall," Cumbie said.

"I thought that coaching's something I want to do, so that's what I decided to do in the fall. I felt that I owed it to Miss Darlene (Stampede Express co-owner Darlene Jones), who gave me this opportunity, to give them a chance to bring someone in here to kind of get their feet wet, hit the ground running and build on what we have this year, move into next year and be ready to go, so I decided to step down as head coach.

"I accepted a contract to play quarterback for the Stampede. That's going to be the last roster move I make as coach."

As soon as Cumbie and Bridget Jones had signed the player contract, Jones broke out Stampede jersey No. 15 with Cumbie's name already embroidered on the back.

"I think I look pretty good in this color," Cumbie said, laughing as he held up his new uniform.

"One of the main reasons I made this decision is that Darlene has been great to me, and I at least owed it to her if I foresee myself not coming back here next year to give her the chance to get somebody in here."

"It's sad that he's not going to be our head coach," Darlene Jones said. "But I couldn't be more thrilled to have the best quarterback.

"These guys bust their tails, practice hard, play hard and do everything we ask them to do, and we want them to be given the opportunity to win," the owner said.

"It doesn't mean Sonny can come in and win us football games, because he can't," Darlene Jones said. "No one player can; it takes every one of them. But I feel as our quarterback, he can give this team the opportunity to win a championship."

"I feel this is the best way to help the team," Cumbie said. "Coming into this deal, there was nothing I wanted to do more than coach this team and win a lot of football games. Circumstances have changed, and I think this is the best thing for this team right now."

Since starter Trevor Scharer went down in the season's second game, Damion Cater has been taking snaps. But Carter had been away from football for several years and the offense has struggled, scoring just 53 points in the Stampede's past two games, both losses. The Stampede averaged 51 points per game in their two season-opening wins.

Cumbie played three seasons in the Arena Football League with the Los Angeles Avengers. He was the 2005 AFL Rookie of the Year and set an Avenger team record by throwing 212 consecutive passes without an interception. In 2006, he threw for 3,241 yards and 59 touchdowns and followed that up with 4,370 yards and 83 scoring passes in 2007.

The Snyder native will head to Lubbock in the fall as a graduate assistant coach at Texas Tech. While playing at Tech, Cumbie led the Red Raiders to a 2004 Holiday Bowl win over then-No. 4 California, lighting the Golden Bears up for 520 yards, his career high. During his senior season, Cumbie threw for 4,742 yards.